Passing Me By (The Senior Kickback Remix)
by Fanfic-Reader-88
Summary: When Robbie woke up this morning, he thought there was no hope when it came to his luck with girls. But when a friend's big sister shows up at his house before a big dance, she makes it her business to turn that logic upside down. A two-shot follow-up to "She Keeps..." Contains Robbie/Trina (Tribbie). Individual chapters featured in the "Fanfic-Reader-88 Oneshot Collection".
1. Should He Stay Or Should He Go?

**Well, here it goes. The oneshot I was going on about before, this is it, and now it isn't even a oneshot anymore. I've been skeptical about stuff I've posted before, but I seriously might have fucked up this time. If you remember back in November, I put up a oneshot called "She Keeps (Or They Keep) On Passing Me By", a little fic about how Robbie's love life, or lack of one, made his life in general miserable as hell. This time, though, the puppet master that everyone loves, or at least tolerates, is getting a shot at redemption. If the general idea doesn't excite you, then maybe the pairing might... maybe. Oh, and at some point, you'll find a few often-mentioned-but-never-seen canon characters pop up in this fic, so that should be fun, I guess. But anyway, I'm saying too much, and likely boring the shit out of you, so I present to you "Passing Me By (The Senior Kickback Remix)". Maybe you'll like it, but I'm not getting my hopes up. **

**Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon own ****_Victorious. _****The Pharcyde owns "Passing Me By", the song that this story and the one that it's based on is named after, which is quoted in both fics.  
**

**(Flashback)**

_"On my way to school, while I was at a stoplight, I heard a old song playing in the car next to me. Normally, I don't pay attention to what other people listened to in their own cars, but for some reason, the words I heard resonated with me."_

**_"...'Cause then I would let you know that I love you so/ and if I was your man, then I would be true/ the only lying I would do is in the bed with you/ Then I signed, 'sincerely, the one who loves you dearly, P.S. Love Me Tender'/ the letter came back three days later, 'Return To Sender', damn! (damn!)"_**

**_"She keeps on passing me by. She keeps on passing me by..."_**

_"The last part of the song that I heard stuck with me the most, because it seemed to fit the description of how my love life, or lack of one was going. All the girls I had ever wanted, no matter whether it was a total stranger, someone I kind of knew, or the four girls who were supposedly my friends, they all had one thing in common: none of them saw me as boyfriend material. Apparently, I was that unattractive and repulsive._

_I was gonna dwell on it some more, but before I knew it, I was at Hollywood Arts, and I had to put all of the gut-wrenching, soul-killing and just generally fucked-up feelings behind me, at least for now. While I was at my locker, I heard a 'hey Robbie' coming from my right. It was Tori, and Cat was practically right behind her. I say 'hi' to be nice, but deep down, I'm still a little frustrated because they wouldn't have understood how I felt. And they probably wouldn't have cared. Nope, they would just keep on passing me by._

**(Friday afternoon/evening, late spring/early summer 2012, around 6PM)**

"So, you're really not going to the dance tonight?" André asked Robbie over the phone. The dance that was in question was the Senior Kickback, and even though an all-students kickback was happening tomorrow, the Senior Kickback was a bigger deal since it was one of the last times that all of the seniors would be in the same place together.

_"No, I'm not going," Robbie said on the other end. "There's no point in me going. I don't have a date for tonight, and unless at least one miracle happens, I won't have one for the dance tomorrow either. I don't wanna look like a loser. At least an even bigger loser than I already am."_

Normally, this would be a moment where where somebody - usually Jade or Rex - would jump in and tell Robbie that he was already a giant loser, but he was apparently way ahead of them. Then there was the fact that Rex laid dormant on Robbie's bed, and Jade, who was at the Vega house with Tori, Beck, and of course, André, was actually feeling bad for the ventriloquist, and so were the other three teens in the living room of the household. Cat hadn't yet arrived with her date, and Trina was still in her room getting ready for the dance herself, so they hadn't heard Robbie's self-deprecating explanation for not wanting to go to the dance.

Meanwhile, André continued the conversation by telling Robbie, "look man, you're not a loser. If going to the dance alone is what you're worried about, then you shouldn't sweat it too much. I mean, there might be some girls at the dance who don't have dates either. If you find a girl that you like who likes you too, then you could have a date for tomorrow's dance... and maybe even have somebody to go home with tonight. Besides, we'll all be at the dance together, so even if you don't end up with a date, at least you could still hang out with us."

_"Okay, that last part might sound good during the dance, but then what happens when the dance is over?" Robbie asked in a somewhat frustrated manner. "I know that Jade and Beck are gonna want to be by themselves, Cat might go somewhere with her date, and even though it probably isn't guaranteed, you and Tori might hang out together."_

Robbie's observation wasn't lost on André, Tori, Beck or Jade, who heard everything due to the phone call being put on speaker. The last part had definitely caught André and Tori's attention, since Robbie was possibly implying that the duo would attend and eventually leave the dance as more than just friends. But regardless of what Robbie may have been suggesting, only one thing concerned André at the current moment.

"Listen man, if you don't wanna go to the kickback, then you don't have to go. I'm just saying that you shouldn't just sit at home and let yourself be bored and depressed."

Taking André's words into consideration, but also under the impression that his night would turn out bad no matter what he did, Robbie then responded by saying, _"look, I'll think about going to the dance, but I doubt it seriously that I actually will. If I don't see you guys tonight, then I'll just talk to you tomorrow. Bye, guys."_

André responded with a "later, Rob," while Tori said "bye Robbie" in the background before the call disconnected. Just seconds later, Tori then said, "wow, poor Robbie. I feel bad for him."

"So, Robbie's seriously gonna miss the dance. You know, I normally don't get too emotional, but I'm kind of upset for the guy," Jade added.

"Well, before he got off the phone with André, he said that he might go, and even if he doesn't go, can you really blame him?" Beck began. "I mean, if I was in the same position that Robbie's in right now, I wouldn't feel too thrilled about going to a dance either."

"Yeah, I mean, who would wanna go to a dance, a prom or a party alone? That's gotta be hard for somebody to deal with," André said.

"I'm just seriously trying to figure out how he got shot down by every girl that he asked," Jade began. "I mean, I know Robbie isn't a chick magnet or anything, but I didn't think that he was that unappealing."

"That's pretty high praise coming from you, Jade," Tori said. "You know, considering all of the times that you've more or less made fun of him."

"Come on, Vega, like you haven't done it?"

"I may have shot him down before, but I never just flat out insulted the guy."

"Whatever. The point is that you haven't done much better than I have when it comes to dealing with Robbie. You might not have been as harsh as I had, but still -"

"Okay, ladies, ladies," André jumped in before Tori and Jade's argument got too heated. "Now isn't the time for fighting."

Once everything had cooled down, Beck then said, "this is probably a dumb question, but did Robbie ask Cat to go to the dance with him?"

"Yeah, but she said no to him too, apparently because she had already found a date," Tori added.

"Do you remember the Jason guy from the method acting challenge, who came here with Cat after we had showed up?" Jade inquired.

"That's Sikowitz's nephew, right?" André asked in search of confirmation.

"Yeah, that's him," Jade answered. "Apparently, Cat saw him again at the mall about a week or so ago, and she must have asked him to go to the dance with her. I guess Robbie didn't know about it until he asked her to go with him."

"Well, I'm guessing that he probably hadn't done this," André began. "But um, did Robbie think to ask Trina to be his date to the dance?"

"Why would Robbie wanna put himself through that? That's like torture, and not the good kind," Jade replied.

"Jade," Beck said in a somewhat stern tone.

"Look, I know that I really hadn't said this before, but you seriously need to back off of Trina," Tori said in an annoyed manner. "Regardless of how she acts, or how she has acted before, she's still my sister, and I'm getting sick of people, especially you, constantly insulting her all of the time."

"You could have fooled me," Jade told the younger Vega sister. "Any other time, you would have just ignored it when anybody said anything bad about her, especially when it was one of us."

"Well, I'm saying something now, Jade, and I mean it. Back off." Once Tori finished arguing with Jade, she then turned her attention back to André. "To answer your question, no, as far as I know, Robbie didn't ask Trina to the kickback tonight. Now that I think about it, I don't think she has a date either."

"What makes you so sure about that?" Beck asked.

"Well, this is Trina that we're talking about, so," Jade said jokingly, although Tori clearly wasn't amused.

"Damn it, Jade. What did I just say?" Tori scolded the Goth before continuing. "But anyway, the reason I have to believe that Trina doesn't have a date is because usually when she _is _going out with somebody, or at least plans to go out with somebody, she makes a big deal about the entire thing until she leaves. That's how she was about the date that she was supposed to go on with that Seth guy, at least until he decided to use Robbie and Cat to dump her for him."

"That whole 'singing bad news' thing?" Beck remembered.

"Yeah, that was it," Tori responded.

"Well, that would explain why Robbie ended up getting his guitar smashed," André said, having heard about Trina's destruction of the puppeteer's instrument.

"Yeah, it would," Tori answered. "And even if he did ask her to the dance tonight, she probably, more than likely would have told him no. Actually, screw that, she definitely would have told him no, and she wouldn't have been nice about it."

Just before Tori finished talking, Trina had made her way to the top of the stairs. She hadn't heard the entire conversation, but she had heard enough to the point where she wanted to stop and listen to the rest of it.

Unaware of the older Vega sister's presence at the stairway, André backed up Tori by saying, "she's got a point. On top of smashing Robbie's guitar, she spit milk in his face when he kissed her at lunch that one time."

"And it wasn't soy milk," Jade added, referring to Robbie's concern about the milk due to him being lactose intolerant.

"Then there was the time where they had to fill in for Festus on the Grub Truck when he got hurt because of them. Robbie basically did all of the work while Trina just bossed him around. Oh yeah, and she apparently fried Rex's foot," Beck continued.

"Yeah, and she walked into our class and basically threatened to kill him if he didn't write a good review for her play that she did," Jade mentioned, remembering when Trina walked into her and Robbie's class and threatened him for not writing a positive review for the self-titled, one-woman play that she had put on shortly after Tori first arrived at Hollywood Arts.

"Oh yeah, that happened," André responded. "And before that, she smashed his face into the bowl of soup he had for lunch, and then before she went to their class and threatened him, she stuck the arms of his sweater in his locker while he still had the sweater on. I knew he didn't wanna do it back then, but looking back on it now, I can definitely understand why he didn't wanna write a review for her play."

"And then there was last Christmas when she sprayed him with the flock gun," Tori recalled. "It was an accident, or at least she acted like it was, but seeing as how she only asked him here to help with the tree and to pull stuff from the garage, I don't think it really helped much for her to apologize. Plus, a few weeks ago, while all of us were working on 'The Blonde Squad', she told him that she didn't even like him as a friend, so there's that."

"Well, no one likes her, so that makes it even," Jade responded nonchalantly.

"Look, Jade, if I have to tell you one more time - "

Just as Tori was about to finish scolding Jade for making yet another mean remark about Trina, the older Vega sister walked down the steps and into the living room, much to the other teens' surprise. Dressed in a black sweater with a white dress-shirt-like collar, blue pants and black heels, she walked towards the front door before her younger sibling got het attention.

"Hey Trina?" Tori called out.

"Yeah?" Trina answered.

"Where are you going?"

"Uhhh, I'm going to the kickback. You know, the dance that's at school tonight?"

"You know that there's still more than a hour left before the dance, right?" Jade asked.

"Oh yeah, I know, but I have to stop somewhere before the dance starts. Besides, why does it suddenly matter what I'm doing and where I'm going? No one likes me, remember? You guys normally wouldn't give a shit about me any other time, so why bother to start now?"

After a brief pause, and realizing that her rant may have came off harder than she might have intended it to, Trina then said, "look, I'm not trying to be mean or bitchy, but normally when I'm around, you can't wait for me to get away from you, so excuse me if I can't understand the sudden interest in my life." She took another pause and sighed before looking back at the group and saying, "I'll see you guys at the dance," before finally walking out the door.

Back inside, the four remaining teens briefly sat in silence before Jade spoke up by saying, "so, I think Trina heard us talking."

"I would be more surprised if she didn't hear us," André replied in a quiet but serious tone.

"Well, whether she heard us or not, she has a point," Beck began. "Any other time she came around, either we brushed Trina off, complained about her being around us, or we tried to avoid her altogether. And to be honest, I think that might be one reason why she's always acted the way she does. Sure, she makes a big deal about herself, but she does it because if she didn't, then nobody else would."

Realizing that Beck was right, and remembering how she herself along with their parents played a big role in that theory, Tori then said, "you have no idea" as she slouched down on the couch.

**Meanwhile, at the Shapiro residence, Robbie was in his room **sitting at the edge of his bed, and more than likely, he was in a depressed mood at the moment. Usually in situations like this, Rex without a doubt would be voicing his opinion, either by supposedly giving Robbie a so-called pep talk, or by putting him down and finding joy and delight in his misfortune. But this time, Rex was simply laid out on the pillow at the right side of the bed. Eventually, Robbie's parents walked into his room, and being at least somewhat aware of their son's predicament and mood, they were hoping to cheer up the young man, or to at least lessen the sadness and frustration that he was feeling.

"Are you gonna go to the dance, sweetie?" Mrs. Shapiro asked in a concerned voice.

"I don't know, Mom. I might go, but right now, I seriously doubt that I will," Robbie said, giving an answer similar to the one that he gave André just before their phone conversation had ended. "And even if I was going to the dance, it starts at 8, and it's 6:45 now, so I would have to rush to get ready. Besides, what's the use of going to tonight's dance, or tomorrow's for that matter, if I don't have a date?"

"Well, you went to your prom last year, and you didn't have a date then," Mr. Shapiro added.

"It was called a 'Prome' at school, Dad, and besides, that was _last year, _when I was a junior. I thought that things would be different after that, especially now," Robbie said quietly, but also in a frustrated manner.

"That may be true, but you still went to the prom, or 'Prome', and you said that even without a date, you still ended up having fun." Wanting to keep encouraging his son, but understanding that a change of mind wouldn't come easy, Mr. Shapiro then continued by saying, "listen Robbie, I know that high school hasn't been all that easy on you, especially when it comes to girls. But just because things went bad for you in the past, it doesn't mean that it'll be that way tonight or tomorrow. And even if it is, you shouldn't stress over it too much, because you've got your whole life ahead of you to worry about your luck with women. But tonight, you should go and have some fun. It might seem hard, but it beats sitting here moping around and wondering 'what if'."

Once Robbie saw that Mr. Shapiro was done talking, he let out a simple "thanks Dad" before Mrs. Shapiro walked over and said, "me and your father, we both love you so much, and we just want you to be happy. And your sister feels the same way, even if she won't admit to it out loud." Mrs. Shapiro then went to hug him before walking out of the room as she said goodbye.

Before he joined his wife out in the hallway, Mr. Shapiro then asked Robbie to remember what he and Mrs. Shapiro had said to him, adding that while they weren't trying to force him to go, it would be better for him if he did. With that, Robbie's parents had walked away and eventually headed out for a Friday night around town.

**Well, that part's over with. As you can see, Robbie's still on the fence about going to the Senior Kickback, and to a further extent, the all-grades kickback that happens the next night, even after the conversations he just had. But as you'll find out later, there's one more person that he still needs to talk to that may or may not convince him to change his mind. And before I finish, at the beginning of the next chapter, you'll see another often mentioned but never seen member of the Shapiro clan, and to say the least, she won't be too thrilled to see who shows up to talk to our favorite puppet master.**

**Anyway, that's a wrap for now. The next chapter should be up soon, but until then, hopefully you enjoyed what happened so far, although I'm not getting my hopes up. Adios, bon voyage, sayonara, and goodbye.**


	2. Come And Talk To Me (Come Up To My Room)

**"Hey people-ese..." I know, it's dumb, but since I'm writing a fic that's (partly) about Robbie, I thought I would use one of his quotes. But on another note, if you saw the first chapter, you saw that Robbie was, and still is on the fence about going to the Senior Kickback, and to the all-grades kickback the next night, even after pep talks from André and his parents. But there's still one person that he hasn't talked to, but she'll be showing up soon, and I mean really soon. Now, because of the summary, and my responses to the reviews, it might be obvious how this all ends. But be warned that things don't happen easily and smoothly in this chapter. And you might wanna start paying some attention if you didn't already, because you'll be introduced to another member of the Shapiro clan once I finish yapping. Which is now.**

**Minutes after the Shapiro parents left the house, Robbie, for the moment, was still sitting quietly in his room, **while his twin sister Rachel was in the living room watching re-runs of _Celebrities Underwater. _But that was interrupted when the doorbell had rung. Not minding the disturbance in her TV watching time at first, Rachel got up from the couch and opened the door after saying "just a minute". However, her good mood was more than likely gonna change when she found out who it was that had come knocking, or in this case, ringing.

"Hello?" Rachel said as she answered the door.

"Hi, is Robbie here?" Trina asked as she was greeted by his sibling.

"Uh, yeah, he's here. May I ask who's looking for him?" She didn't have the greatest history with her brother since they became teenagers, but Rachel showed enough concern and interest in Robbie's life for her to have known that at the moment, he didn't have a date to either one of the upcoming dances, and that was one of the reasons, or rather, the biggest reason why he didn't plan on going to said dances. So it seemed odd that any girl, or in Trina's case, any woman, would be here looking for her brother.

"I, I'm Trina. I... I go to school with Robbie," Trina answered cautiously, not wanting to call herself a friend of his. But this had less to do with her general opinion of him, and more to do with the fact that her treatment of him over the years didn't really allow her to describe herself as such.

"So you're Trina Vega," Rachel said, her voice sounding irritated and possibly angry. "You know, you've got a lot of nerve showing your face around here looking for my brother after all the shit you put him through over the years. So what do you want from him now? You wanna spit milk in his face again? Do you wanna threaten him to write something good about you on the school website one more time? Did you come here to break another guitar of his? Huh? What the hell do you want?"

It mattered little to none that Robbie was friends with her sister Tori, who had treated Robbie with at least a little bit of respect. Rachel was too aware of how Trina had been towards him, whether her brother had actually told her himself, or if she had heard it indirectly when he talked to their parents. And because of this, Rachel was determined to let Trina have it, at least from a verbal standpoint.

Not willing to back down from Rachel, or at least not showing any signs that she would so, Trina finally spoke up by saying, "I actually came here to ask Robbie to the dance. Let me guess, is that suddenly a crime now?"

"No, but for you, it ought to be, seeing as how you've been such a fucking gank to him all this time, Vega," Rachel added, calling Trina by her last name just as Jade had done so often with Tori.

"Look, whether you believe it or not, I actually do give a damn about Robbie, even if I haven't done the best job of showing it in the past. But I'm trying to make things right now, and I wanted to start by at least taking him to the Senior Kickback tonight."

"And how do you know that he wants to go to the dance with you, or anywhere for that matter?"

"How do you know that he doesn't?" It was less out of arrogance and more out of reflection, but Trina did realize that Robbie had, or at least he did have feelings for her at one point in time, and if those emotions still existed, then she felt that it would be easier to convince him to go to the dance with her. But she also realized in the back of her mind that it could, and likely would be at least somewhat difficult because of her past behavior towards him.

Willing to give Trina the benefit of the doubt, at least for the time being, Rachel then said, "okay, look, Robbie's upstairs in his room. If you wanna talk to him, then go right ahead. But I'm warning you right now, if you do anything or say anything to hurt him, then I'm gonna hurt you."

"I'd like to see you try," Trina said in response.

"What makes you think that I won't?" Rachel replied somewhat angrily.

"Well, let's see. For one thing, I know martial arts. Secondly, I have a cop for a dad, and third, and most importantly, I'm not gonna do anything to hurt Robbie. Now, are you gonna show me to his room or not?"

Still irritated with Trina, but wanting Robbie to hear her out and make a decision for himself, Rachel began walking up the stairs before saying "come on" to Trina, and after that, the older Vega sister followed the path that Robbie's sibling was on.

"Robbie?" Rachel called out as she knocked on her brother's door. On the other side, he got up from his bed wondering what his sister could have wanted as he went to answer the knock. He only expected to see Rachel when he opened the door, but he was greatly surprised when he saw Trina standing beside her.

"Trina?" Robbie called out in shock as he saw his frenemy standing with his sister in his bedroom's doorway.

"Hi, Robbie," Trina greeted in a quiet tone, possibly feeling nervous about the idea of being shot down by the ventriloquist.

"What are you doing here?"

"Apparently, Trina here wants to talk to you, particularly about a couple of dances that are happening tonight and tomorrow," Rachel said. "So what's up, bro? Do you wanna hear this chick out or not?"

Having given his sister an annoyed look, which Trina did as well, Robbie invited Trina into his room to talk. Rachel had walked in with her, but Robbie made it his business to get his sister out of the room, and to do it as fast as possible.

"Ahhh, ahhh, ahhh. Rachel, you gotta get out _now_," Robbie said in a stern and nearly commanding tone.

"But Robbie - "

"I don't wanna hear it, Rachel. What I have to talk about with Trina, it's between me and her. It's none of your business, and besides, I get the feeling that you said enough already."

Neither Robbie or Rachel saw it, but Trina had shifted her eyes as if to say "yeah, she did" before briefly making eye contact with Robbie.

Not wanting to argue with her brother, Rachel followed along with Robbie's wishes and left out of his room. But before she did so, she made it a point to whisper to Trina, "like I said before, if you hurt him, then I'll hurt you. Remember that, Vega." And with that, Rachel was gone from the bedroom.

With the door closed, Robbie pulled out the chair that was near it and offered it to Trina to sit down in. Once Robbie sat back down on his bed, and with Trina having moved the chair so that she was sitting directly in front of him, he began the conversation that, regardless of how it turned out, would not be easy.

"So, what's this about you wanting to talk to me about the kickbacks this weekend?" Robbie asked, his voice mixed with shock and confusion.

"Well, for one thing, I... I wanted to ask you if you would be my date tonight and tomorrow," Trina began nervously. "But on top of that, and more importantly, I wanted to apologize."

Surprised greatly by what he had just heard, Robbie then spoke up and said, "wait a minute. You want me to be your date to the Senior Kickback tonight, the All-Grades Kickback tomorrow night, _and _you wanna apologize to me?"_  
_

"Yeah, that's the plan," Trina responded. After seeing Robbie zone out, she then asked, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a vision of Hell freezing over," Robbie said once he snapped out of his daze.

"Oh, come on. Is it really that hard to believe that I'm trying to say 'I'm sorry'?"

"Uh, yeah. Aren't you the 'perfect, amazing and awesome' Trina Vega who can't do any wrong?"

"I am Trina Vega, but as far as being 'perfect, amazing and awesome', I'm not so sure about that anymore. And as far as how I've been towards you, I've done plenty of wrong." Seeing a small look of surprise on Robbie's face, she then continued by saying, "I've been doing some thinking lately, and I've realized that I haven't been the easiest person to deal with, especially for you."

"Yeah, that's putting it lightly, but I'm not gonna argue otherwise, so keep going."

"The point is that I'm sorry... for everything. For spitting milk in your face after you kissed me, for trapping your hands in your sweater and shutting the sleeves in your locker, for fighting with you over the last tamale on the Grub Truck, for smashing your guitar into pieces, and just for every rotten thing that I've ever said or done to you in the past, I'm so sorry."

Wanting to forgive Trina, but also feeling skeptical about her true intentions, Robbie then asked, "how do I know that this is for real? I mean, I wanna forgive you, but I can't do it, and I won't do it if this is just some game you're playing."

"Because I'm not the game-playing type, not when it comes to somebody I might like," Trina began, her words getting another look of shock out of Robbie. "And not only that, but I really am trying to make things right between us. And if nothing else, you should realize that this isn't a game because I'm ignoring a lot of different things by apologizing to you and asking you to the dance."

"Whoa, wait a minute. What are you talking about, 'ignoring things'?"

"Well, first of all, I'm ignoring what other people might think about us being together. Better yet, I'm ignoring what I used to think about us being together, and what I used to think about you in general. But most of all, I'm ignoring all of the things that you've put me through yourself."

"What _I've _put _you _through? Okay, I might not have been all that great to you in the past, but I haven't done nearly as much to you as what you did to me."

"Maybe not, but trust me, Robbie, you've done your fair share of damage," Trina replied, remembering various instances where Robbie had a hand in providing her with embarrassment and emotional trauma, and little to his knowledge, she was also aware of the moment where he had physically hurt her.

"So you're mad about me and Cat coming to your house and singing that song? Okay, yeah, in hindsight, it was a bad idea, and we should have told him to go fuck himself, but if you want to be upset with somebody, then it should be Seth, because he didn't have enough balls to face you like a man and cancel your date in person, or at least call you and talk to you himself."

"Alright, that may be true, but what about that stupid prank that you, Beck and André pulled at my house just because you wanted to 'teach me a lesson'?"

"That was a joke. That's all it was. All Beck was trying to do was to show you how wrong it was for you to lie about the two of you being together. The fact that your dad didn't believe you, and that whole thing about him asking you to go 'far, far away' when you go to college, we didn't mean for that to happen. At least I didn't."

She heard Robbie admit to and somewhat acknowledge the wrongdoing in his involvement with Beck's prank, along with singing with Cat on behalf of Seth, but Trina doubted that he knew that she knew about his - and Rex's - part in the wire-cutting incident, and getting him to admit to it wouldn't be easy, but in order to move forward - be it with or without Robbie as her date, it was a step that she needed to take.

"Okay, so you didn't mean to turn my dad against me when you, André and Beck pulled that prank, and you didn't mean to get me upset when Seth used you and Cat to sing that song where he was trying to dump me," Trina began. "But did you mean to put me in the hospital last year when you cut the the wire on the gimble to my harness before Tori's play?"

Stunned by the notion that Trina had figured out that he had something to do with the wire-cutting incident, even if it was done "on behalf of Rex", Robbie virtually went into panic mode and exclaimed, "what makes you think I did it? Who told you that I did it?"

"Are you kidding me right now? Nobody had to say anything about it. Once I actually put some thought into it, it wasn't hard to figure out. I ended up having to go to the hospital just because you wanted to get me back for hitting that stupid fucking puppet of yours!"

Robbie had begun trying to talk again, either to try and explain himself, or to further deny any wrongdoing. But no matter what the reason was, Trina wasn't having any of it.

"You know, most people would have been arrested and put in jail or at least suspended for what you did. If nothing else, I should kick your ass for making me go through that!"

As Trina had finished scolding Robbie, she then hauled off and hit him in his shoulder. She immediately realized the gravity of her actions when she saw Robbie wincing in pain, and more importantly, she felt upset with herself because she realized that she broke her promise to not do or say anything to hurt him, even though it was justified in this instance.

"Look, Robbie, I'm sorry that I -"

"No, Trina, don't say anything. It's over with now," Robbie said, a hint of frustration lingering in his voice.

"But I hurt you, and I came up here and made a promise that I wasn't going to."

"So now it matters if I'm hurt?" As Robbie finished talking, Trina looked at him, feeling seemingly stunned that he still didn't buy what she told him earlier. Before she could explain herself, he continued his own moment to vent.

"The fact that I put you in the hospital, and that I even did anything to the harness, I'm not even gonna try to justify that. It was wrong for me to do that, it was wrong for me to play that prank on you with Beck and André, and it was even wrong for me to bring Cat along to dump you for Seth. And I'm sorry for all of that. But I know I'm wrong, and I can see that, and if I had thought to ask you out, it would have been because I actually wanted to take you."

"Wait a minute. You're really gonna sit here and say that you don't think that my apology is real, or that I don't really want you to go to the dance with me, even after I came here and spilled my guts _after _I had to deal with your sister?" Trina asked, feeling both frustrated and angry at Robbie's assumptions.

"That's exactly what I'm saying . I'm not stupid, Trina. I know that I'm not your first choice. You're probably only here because either the guy you wanted to be with didn't ask you out, or you asked him out but he said no, and you must have thought that being at the dance with me was better than either going alone, not going at all, or being stuck with somebody like Sinjin. You don't care anything about me!"

"Okay, since you're still not convinced yet, then let me clue you in on a few things," Trina grumbled. "For one, I hadn't asked anyone to the dance, and I wasn't anticipating anyone asking me either. I had actually considered not going, because I know that, as Jade loves to point out so often, nobody likes me. But then I realized that, with or without a date, I should go to the kickback anyway, because unlike last year, this really is it for me, and I didn't wanna go through life wondering how it might have been if I went to the dance. So I decided that I was going no matter what."

"But what does any of this have to do with me? Why am I suddenly the main attraction at 'Trinaland'?" Robbie asked.

"Because, for one thing, like I said earlier, I'm trying to do my part to make things right between us," Trina began. "And believe it or not, when I said that I liked you earlier, I was serious."

"You like me in that way? The good kind of way?" Robbie asked in shock.

"Yeah, I do. I... I have liked you in that way for a while actually," Trina answered nervously.

"You could have fooled me all of this time. But seriously, when did this start?"

"Well, for a while now, I've had this nagging feeling in my mind that's been telling me that even though you might come off as nerdy, creepy and just generally unattractive and unappealing, you might actually be a good guy, and you deserve a chance because of it. And for quite some time, I've been ignoring how I feel."

"Okay, so are we talking a few days? Was it a couple of weeks?" Robbie asked nonchalantly.

"It's actually been for the last couple of years. And now that I think about it, that's actually a long time," Trina said in response.

"Alright, then if that's the case, then why was it that every time we were around each other, you either didn't wanna acknowledge me at all, or you acted like I was so horrible to be around when you did talk to me?"

"I think there's a lot of reasons behind that. For one thing, I made the mistake of letting my ego cloud my emotions. Obviously, I would walk around like I was the queen of the universe, or at least the princess of Hollywood Arts, and because of that, I would act like being with you, or somebody like you, would ruin my so-called reputation. Then up until recently, I never really took the time to think about how what I've done and said to you might actually affect you. But then there's a lot of stuff that you've done that I'm still trying to move on from."

"Listen Trina, I can't apologize enough about what I did to your harness, coming to your house and pranking you, or even for letting Seth come to me and Cat to ask us to dump you on his behalf. But - "

Just as Robbie was gonna finish his thought, Trina then continued by saying, "those aren't the only issues between us, Robbie. I haven't exactly been so great to you, but for somebody who swore up and down that we loved each other and were meant to be together, you haven't done so well with me either."

"Okay, what are you talking about now?" Robbie asked in confusion.

"Well, for one thing, apparently to you, I'm a grunch who's conceited and untalented. You might try to say that it was Rex who said all of those things, but let's face it, you control Rex, and you use him to say things that you wouldn't say on your own. And if you're so interested in me, then how do you explain constantly chasing after Cat, trying to pick up other girls by acting like Ryder, or even trying to hook up with Tori?"

Feeling lost for words knowing that Trina may have had a point, but also frustrated that the conversation had shifted mainly towards his faults and mishaps, Robbie began to explain himself.

"Okay, I should say that you aren't untalented. I mean, you aren't as good as you think you are, but you do have some skill. And maybe I was wrong to call you a grunch, and for using Rex to do it, but what I said isn't any less true. You are conceited, and you have a seriously bad habit of acting like the world revolves around you, and because of it, you go around treating people like shit, especially me. As for me pretending to be Ryder to try and pick up girls, what fucking difference does it make? Being myself doesn't work, and apparently neither did trying to be like him. I'm still alone, and no girl is interested in me, especially not Tori or Cat."

"But - "

"And since I'm on the two of them, why the hell does it matter to you if I like either one of them?" Robbie continued somewhat angrily. "Aside from Tori being your sister, it really isn't any business of yours if I like her or not. Besides, after what happened at the Cow Wow, not to mention all of the other times that she's turned me down, I seriously doubt that I have any chance with Cat now. If I couldn't get her after all this time, then it probably won't ever happen. And you said it yourself that you don't even like me as a friend, so like I said before, how I feel, and who I feel it for, it isn't any of your business or concern.

"You seriously remember me saying that?" Trina asked in a silent but nervous tone, as she was well aware of what she told Robbie just a few weeks earlier.

"It's not something that a guy forgets. Besides, you just said it a few weeks ago, and whether you meant it or not, it's stuck with me ever since," Robbie answered in a somber voice.

"Listen Robbie, I lied, okay? When I told you that I didn't like you, even as a friend, I lied," Trina began. "Just like everything else I've said and done regarding you, I let my pride and my ego get in the way, and instead of me just leaving things alone and letting you talk, I just took another chance to insult you. I actually thought that it was sweet of you to make a song for Cat. And I even felt a little jealous about it."

"Okay, wait. Since when are you jealous of _anybody_?" Robbie asked the still-aspiring diva. "I mean, usually if it isn't about you or doesn't involve you somehow, then you don't care."

"Well, for one thing, I was jealous because like I said, I thought it was sweet of you to go to all of that trouble to make that song for her," Trina started. "But the more I thought about it, the more upset I was, because nobody had ever put that much effort into anything for me, aside from the song Tori and André did for me a couple of years ago."

"So you're telling me that _nobody else _ever did anything like that for you?" Robbie asked with his eyebrows raised and a small smirk going across his face.

"The song you did to help Seth dump me doesn't count, Robbie," Trina said in an annoyed manner. "And don't try telling me that 'Monkey Woman' does either."

"But you were in the video that I posted for it on TheSlap," Robbie added.

"Yeah, maybe but the song wasn't actually about me. And even if it was, it's not the same. I mean, how does a song about a monkey woman compare to telling someone how much you love them, or how much you're thinking about them and all of that type of stuff, which is basically what you said to Cat?"

Breathing out a quick sigh before talking again, Robbie continued the conversation by saying, "okay, even if I never made a song for you or about you, I have done a lot of things for you, and I have tried to help you."

"Okay, name one time where that's happened," Trina said with a laugh, although deep down, she knew that there were quite a few moments where he had helped and done things for her.

"To start off with, there was the Christmas tree that I helped you with, and then me, Beck and André stayed with you when you got your wisdom teeth pulled."

"Okay, when I got my wisdom teeth pulled, the three of you only stayed because Jade took Beck's keys and you guys couldn't leave. Then when Tori came back with her and Cat, you left me with some random girls who lost a bet, so they had to 'babysit' me. So you need a better example than that."

"Alright, you want a better example? Then here it goes. You remember last year, when you and Tori came to school early, and you kicked the shit out of this guy who tried to mug Helen?"

"Yeah, I remember that... wait a minute. First of all, how do you know about that, and what does that have to do with you?" Trina asked, shocked at Robbie's knowledge of that morning.

"I know about it because the guy wasn't some mugger. That guy... that guy was me," Robbie said. "That whole thing was staged, and it was a plan to keep you in school."

"Okay, why would you have to stage a mugging to keep me in school?"

"Because when Helen's assistant made list of kids who could stay and who had to leave Hollywood Arts after the re-auditions, she messed up by putting your picture and review under Tori's name."

"So... because the assistant messed up, Tori almost got kicked out of school?" Trina asked in shock.

"Yeah... it was actually supposed to be you instead," Robbie began. "When Tori found out about the mix-up, she said that she tried to tell you about it, but she couldn't do it because she didn't know how to do it without hurting your feelings or getting you upset, and then when she was attempting to explain it to you, you just thought that she was upset because she was being kicked out."

Between trying to come to terms with the truth about how she should have been gone from Hollywood Arts instead of Tori, and realizing how that moment, along with other situations, had affected Robbie and her relationship with him, Trina suddenly buried her head in her hands, seemingly upset and embarrassed even further than she may have been before earlier in the evening.

Noticing the gesture and becoming concerned, Robbie then asked, "are you okay?"

"Not really," Trina replied as she looked back up at the ventriloquist. "I mean, I know that I said earlier that we both had put each other through some rotten shit in the past, but after what you just told me... I mean, why would you let yourself go through that after everything that's happened between us? After everything that I've done to you?"

"Because maybe I wanted to help out a friend... and I didn't wanna see another one leave," Robbie began in a somber manner. "But I guess it doesn't matter, because you said it yourself that we're not friends."

"Well, like I said earlier, I lied when I told you that we weren't friends," Trina began. "And like I told your sister before I came up here, taking you to the dance is one way to make things right between us, and then maybe we could start over and really be friends, or maybe even something more. So, Robbie Shapiro, will you go to the Senior Kickback with me?"

With Trina having stood up and taken his hand before asking him as if it were a reverse proposal, Robbie wanted to say yes, but in the back of his mind, there was a lingering thought that he couldn't let go of, and until he got answers, he most likely wasn't going anywhere.

"Before I say anything, there's something that I want to know, actually that I need to know," Robbie spoke up, concerned about what could happen if someone asked why they were together.

"What is it, Robbie?"

"If we go to this dance, and everybody asks why we showed up together, are you gonna tell the truth about what made you ask me to go with you, or are you gonna make up some excuse to save face for being seen with me?"

Understanding what he was getting at, Trina sat back down, but leaned in closer to Robbie so that their faces were just inches apart. Once she did this, she then said, "listen, in the past, I might have done something like that. Or to take it even further, I probably wouldn't even be here. But things are different now. I'm older, and maybe a little bit wiser, and more importantly, I'm not afraid or ashamed of whatever there might be between us."

With just enough time for both teens to blink, Trina cupped Robbie's face before going in to kiss him, almost exactly like she did when she kissed him during their World War II play audition two years earlier. But this time, however, she knelt down on the bed between his legs as he returned the kiss, and eventually, Robbie had laid back on the bed, with his glasses on one of the pillows as Trina climbed on top of him. The kiss lasted for a few more seconds, and when they finally broke apart, there was still one big thing that Trina wanted to know.

"So what's it gonna be, Robbie?" Trina asked, still wanting to know if Robbie would go to the dance with her.

"Yeah. Yes, I'll go to the dance with you," Robbie answered happily, even if it didn't exactly show in the expression on his face.

"I'm glad to hear that," Trina said as she stood up after climbing off of Robbie. "Now come on, go get ready."

And with that, Robbie went off and grabbed some clothes before heading off to take a shower, while Trina left to go back downstairs. Before that happened, though, she ran into Rachel again, who had some more words for the older Vega sister.

"So, I take it you talked my brother into going to the dance with you," Rachel said in a stern tone.

"No, I just asked him to go, and he said 'yes'. Robbie's smart enough to make up his own mind," Trina responded.

"Tell me something that I don't know. But like I said earlier, if you do anything to hurt Robbie, then I'm gonna hurt you."

"I know what you said, but I also know that you should back off, because this probably won't be the last time that you'll see me."

She wasn't entirely sure what the future, both immediate and long-term, held for the both of them, but if she had any control over it, Trina was willing to be more involved in Robbie's life if he wanted it, and if it came down to it, she was also ready to try her hand at a relationship with him. Whatever the case would be, the two of them were on way better terms than they were before she showed up, and there was a willingness in the both of them to keep it that way.

**At sometime between 8 and 8:30PM, Robbie and Trina had showed up to the Asphalt Café at Hollywood Arts, **and once they had arrived there, many of the other seniors were up dancing and moving around, and that included their friends and younger sibling, who were standing near the Grub Truck. Once the pair spotted them, they walked over and said their "hi's", and needless to say, everyone was surprised to see them together.

Tori was shocked but ultimately happy at the sight of them, and Beck and André were as well, although they were just glad that Robbie showed up more than anything else, as they high-fived him once they saw him, and they had greeted Trina also.

Cat was happy with the sight of the two together as well, and Jason simply said hello to the pair, his acknowledgement of Robbie lasting a bit longer because of their past encounter when he and Cat, along with André and Jade had crashed the Vegas' household after Robbie had the night of the method acting exercise.

Jade simply pointed out that Robbie and Trina had showed up together, apparently in a manner that made the older Vega defensive. Jade then responded by saying that she just hadn't expected to see them as each other's dates, and that because of the phone call earlier, she didn't expect to see Robbie at all. Before it got too out of hand, Robbie had invited Trina to dance, which made Beck quietly say "nice save", as he understood what could have happened between the diva and his girlfriend had things escalated any further.

At one point in the night, Robbie and André went to get drinks for themselves and Trina and Tori. While this was happening, André simply told Robbie that he was glad to see him at the dance, and Robbie pointed out that he would have stayed home, but he would have regretted not going to the Kickback more than he would have regretted showing up. After joking about what made Robbie change his mind, the conversation was pretty much done at that point.

The chat between Trina and Tori was more probing, as Tori asked Trina how she managed to talk Robbie into coming with her to the dance, pointing out that she said that she didn't like him just a few weeks before. Trina then admitted that she was wrong, admitting that she did like Robbie as a friend and possibly more, before explaining that they talked about everything that happened between them over the years, which included the staged mugging that was planned to keep Trina at Hollywood Arts, much to Tori's shock. Not willing to let the chat die, Tori tried to probe her sister further after having remembered that she admitted to liking Robbie, asking if anything happened while she was at the Shapiro residence. Trina simply brushed it off, but the smile and blush on her face nearly gave her away. Luckily, Tori decided to back off.

When the guys came back, André asked the girls if anything happened while they were gone, to which Tori responded by saying that she and Trina were simply "talking about 'girl stuff'," and when she asked him what he and Robbie had been up to, he said that it was the same, except that they were talking about "guy stuff". Unknown to both of them, Robbie had looked up to see Trina smiling at him, an expression that he easily returned.

**Later on, when everyone got back to dancing, **Robbie was holding on to Trina by the waist as she had her arms around his neck while they moved to the beat of the song that was playing. At one point during the song, Trina leaned closer to Robbie and asked him, "so are you having fun?"

"Yeah, I am," Robbie answered. "I'm glad I didn't stay home tonight. What about you?"

"Oh yeah, I'm having fun too," Trina began. "I should have asked you out a long time ago."

"Well, better late than never, right? But listen, I was thinking about something."

"What's that?"

"You know that the kickback for the whole school is tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, I know that. Are you asking me to be your date?" Trina asked with a smile.

"I do want you to be my date, but I was wondering if maybe you wanted to hang out before the dance. You know, if you don't mind," Robbie said.

"I don't mind that at all," Trina started. "But uh, why wait until tomorrow?" The question came in a manner that was somehow flirtatious and seductive all at once.

"You mean - "

"Yeah, I mean that we should stick together for a while after the dance tonight." Trina then followed her answer with a quick kiss.

There was no telling what the rest of the night would hold once the Senior Kickback was over, but knowing that Trina wanted to spend at least part of it with him was a win in Robbie's eyes. Whatever the case might have been, there was one thing about tonight that was different from this morning: Trina Vega was no longer one of the countless girls who would keep on passing him by.

**Well, that torture is over. But anyway, as you know, if you got this far, everything's better between our favorite ventriloquist and not-so-grunchy diva, although it might have gotten a little ugly before everything was resolved. Speaking of which, how about that girl Rachel. Man, she don't play around, does she? But anyway, now that this is over with, I can FINALLY get to finishing the next chapter(s) in the "WhizGrunchShower" universe. I really gotta work on that chiz. Until then, just let me know what you thought about this BS here. Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta go see a not-so-crazy girl in a mental hospital and bust her out of there. I'm out this bitch!**


End file.
